


Barren

by ThemBrownCoats (orphan_account)



Series: The Barren Series [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 17:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3537203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ThemBrownCoats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More than five doctors have told Mar'i that children aren't a possibility for her and her husband. Now how will she tell Damian?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Barren

In the past two months, Mar’i had been to five doctors and they had all told her the same thing. She wasn’t going to have kids. Or that there was an extremely small chance that she was going to have kids. There weren’t going to be any Grayson-Wayne children running around any time soon – or ever, probably. The doctor she had just been with had been one of three to tell her that there was even a small chance of her successfully carrying a child to term.

She wasn’t at the doctor’s office anymore, though, she was heading back home. Or she was trying to. In actuality, Mar’i was sitting in the parking lot of the doctor’s office in her car, twisting her wedding ring round and round her finger. What was she going to tell Damian? That they couldn’t have kids? That by some fluke, she was infertile?

She bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back a sob as she leaned her head against the steering wheel, had gripping the top of it so tightly that she was creating new grooves in the material of the steering wheel. She was mentally kicking herself as she held back her anger and tears of frustration; if she had just gotten tested before they had gotten married, she wouldn’t be in this situation. She wouldn’t have to go home and tell Damian that there would be no “heirs” and she would never have the baby girl that she wanted so badly. If she’d gotten tested before, she wouldn’t have to think about Damian leaving her if she couldn’t give life.

Not that she really thought he would do that but the voice in the back of her mind said differently.

Mar’i held back the urge to break everything she set her eyes on and yanked a water bottle from her purse and downed it. She wiped some of the trickles from the side of her mouth and took another deep breath before starting her car.

The drive home was only fifteen minutes long but it seemed to stretch on for hours because Mar’i kept turning the facts over and over in her mind. She could hardly wrap her mind around it. When the first doctor had told her, she had thought that is was a mistake. A false negative or something. When the second doctor had told her, she thought it might be another mistake but in her heart she’d known. And yet, she kept going to different doctors (all specializing in meta-human and alien physiologies), trying to prove it wrong.

And all along, that first doctor had been right.

Mar’i took her car towards the garage, parking quickly and slipping out of the car, the ball of anxiety in her chest getting tighter with each step she took. She took a breath and continued on. If she just said it quickly, it would be okay, right? She dismissed the thought quickly, it wouldn’t be okay no matter how she said it and if it was blurted out it would go all wrong.

It deserved to be said with the weight and emotion that she felt was behind it.

The woman sighed and trudged up the steps like she was in water, slow and weighed down. Unable to go faster even if she wanted to. Where would Damian be at this hour? She didn’t think he had gone into the city for work today, he had still been in bed when she had gotten up this morning. Which was rarer than it should be. If he was anywhere in the house, it would probably be in the study at his desk, doing some paperwork. Going over reports. Looking at proposal notes.

The door from the garage into the manor creaked loudly and she closed the door with her back to it as quietly as she could. Mar’i took off her sandals and put her bag and keys down on one of the entrance tables, she’d come back for them later. Then she began to wander the halls of the manor, trying to call words to her mind that would help her break the news to her husband.

She finally found herself in front of his study, the heavy mahogany doors wide open. Her bare feet hardly even kissed the floor as she floated in, half walking. Damian was at his desk, as she had predicted, doing paperwork, a calculator in hand. He looked up quickly to acknowledge that he saw her, gave a smile, and immediately went back to his work.

But Mar’i cleared her throat when he looked back down and crossed her arms, hands grabbing at them to keep themselves from shaking. “I –” her speech faltered. “I – I have something important to tell you,” she felt hot tears pricking the back of her eyes, which was exactly what she had wanted to avoid. “I went to see the doctor today.” The words fell out of her mouth quietly.

Damian raised a brow, obviously impatient with her slow speech but also concerned. What would she hesitate to tell him?

”I have some important news.”

As soon as he heard the word “news,” he set down his pen, ready to listen to whatever she had to say.

“News? Are you -?” His tongue darted out to wet his lips and he leaned forward before Mar’i shook her head. He sat back, confusion and more concern written across his face. X’hal, that only made Mar’i feel worse.“You aren’t?” His brow furrowed while his mind leapt to conclusions before Mar’i could even tell him what had happened. “What’s wrong, are you sick? Is there something wrong with your immune system…? Som - something else?” He didn’t want to say it.

But she had to.

“I can’t -” she swallowed dryly as she grasped for words. “I’m practically infertile, Damian. We aren’t going to have an heir or whatever it was that you wanted.” Mar’i sighed. “What I wanted.” She looked up at the ceiling, trying to avoid his gaze. “They told me that there’s a one-percent chance that I’ll have a child because I’m an alien-human hybrid.” Mar’i let her head drop back to its normal position and rubbed at her eyes roughly before letting her arms drop, crossing them again. She let her eyes close and spoke again, even quieter this time.

“I won’t be happy but I’d understand if you wanted to be with someone else.” But instead of being unhappy or upset, Damian walked around his desk to draw her into his arms and crush her against his chest.

“Do you really think me that insensitive?” He puffed, setting his chin on the top of her head. “That I would leave you in your time of need simply because it’s difficult for you to procreate?” Damian wrapped his arms around her tighter and buried his face in her hair. “There’s a great many alternatives to giving birth, you know.” His words were muffled by her hair but she still understood what he was telling her.

She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her own arms around him. “Cloning?” Her voice was muffled by his button up.

“If it will make you happy, then yes.” Damian loosened his grip on Mar’i slightly and held her away from him so he could kiss her. Long and slow, full of love like it always was. “There is nothing I would not do to see you smile, Mar’i. Please, always remember that.”

Mar’i nodded as he rested his forehead against hers and let the tears that had pricked the back of her eyes go. They were of mixed emotions. Relief, frustration, anger.

Love.

Damian wiped the tears away with his thumbs gently before he let go of her completely and scooped her up into his arms. Mar’i let her head fall against his chest, eyes falling shut once more.

He kissed her forehead as one of her hands moved to grip the front of his shirt. “I believe it would be best if you rested, Beloved.” Damian started walking as she started to speak again, words barely audible.

“Would you stay with me?”

“Always.”


End file.
